


Nonary Game: Survival Edition

by KivaEmber



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Genre: 999/VLR inspired, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Child Abuse, Crossover, Gen, Multiple Universes, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, References to Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-10 07:53:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/783629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KivaEmber/pseuds/KivaEmber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hibiki wakes up and finds himself trapped in a sadistic game led by ‘Zero’. He and eight others have two goals: Find the Number Nine door and escape through it – or discover Zero’s identity, and kill him through the Voting Game. Which one will happen first…?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Under the flashing klaxons Yamato’s face looked jaundiced, his lips pressed into a grim, thin line. Kazuya could only stare at him, his ears filled with the caterwauling of the other children, and he could feel his hands shaking as that bubble of despair started to rise higher and higher up his throat._

_‘_ Help me, help me, help me,’  _Kazuya thought, a sharp pain jolting up to his temples. He was clenching his jaw so tight. ‘_ Help me.’

_There were some children banging on the thick, steel door. Number Nine was splashed messily onto its surface, bright red and somehow vivid under the swirling bright lights of the klaxon alarms. Kazuya would have joined them if his feet weren’t so rooted. He could only stand there and stare at Yamato, who seemed to be in a similar state._

_The boy’s lips parted, and his eyes darted up to the ceiling – Yamato laughed. It was a high, unstable thing of pure terror._

“Well,” _Yamato muttered – despite being the youngest of the gathered children, he had the deepest voice, and it somehow carried an authority no eight year old should have._ “We’re fucked.”

“You shouldn’t say that,” _Kazuya said automatically, and he swallowed down the lump lodged in his throat. The wailing was growing louder and he wasn’t sure if it was the alarms or the children crying._ “Everything – they had a way out for everything, so why would they-”

“There’s nothing,”  _Yamato said, and Kazuya stared as he crouched down on the metal floor, seemingly defeated. The air was dry and hot. Kazuya could see Yamato’s toes curl against the heat radiating off the metal floor. “_ Nothing… no one’s coming… no one’s…”

_Kazuya wanted to grab him and shake him – they wouldn’t make them do all that and then abandon them! But then the cold voice rang out, cutting through the klaxons and the crying and the screaming and_

**“The Incinerator has activated.”**

_The air was hot._

_—-_

There was a noise like a gunshot that broke through Hibiki’s consciousness, and he jolted up with a cry. Gravity suddenly tipped him, and with a graceless flail and yelp, he crashed onto the floor, the air being driven right out of his lungs, and his already scrambled brains shaking into utter confusion. Ugh, what…

“Ow…” Hibiki groaned, lying there in misery for a moment. He finally hauled himself to his feet, gripping onto the edge of the desk for support as he rubbed his side, pulling a face. His disgruntled expression turned quickly confused however, and he straightened up, looking from side to side.

He was in a classroom – a very small classroom. It looked like it belonged to an elementary school, the desks and chairs tiny and cramped together, and a large blackboard with a cute chalk drawing of a rabbit running away from a fox.

_‘Hurry, hurry, find your burrow!’_  The words beneath the rabbit said.

“Okay…” Hibiki muttered, pushing away from the desk. He had never seen this room in his life, and when he tried to think back – his thoughts were clogged and confused, like he had a hangover. He groaned and kneaded his knuckles against his forehead. Damn it… maybe it’d come to him later.

_“Heeeeeeeyoooooooo!”_

Hibiki jumped at the sudden voice, and looked about himself in confusion. The voice was high and tinny, like that of a child, but there was no one in the small classroom but himself.

_“Heeeeyooooo! Do I have to play Marco-Polo? Alrighty! Go on! Say Marco! And I’ll say Polo! You’ll find me!”_

The voice seemed to be coming from one side of the classroom. Hibiki walked over to it cautiously. “M…Marco?” he called out cautiously.

_“Polo!”_

“…Marco.”

_“Poooolooooo~~”_

Hibiki eventually zeroed in on the source of the voice. There was a small screen installed next to the classroom door, and on it was a small avatar – a bunny girl, her eyes wide and starry. It looked totally out of place in something like a children’s school. She laughed when Hibiki stood before the screen, staring at it dumbly, and smiled widely.

_“About time you woke up! The others have been up and ‘bout for a while, but I hadta wake you up myself! Nothin’ short of a gunshot! Hahaha!”_

“What…” Hibiki croaked.

_“Ohhh, right…”_  The bunny girl pressed a hand to her mouth, as sheepish.  _“Sorry, sorry, you’re prolly all confused, aren’t you? Well, lemme introduce you to: Nonary Game: Redux Version! Yaaaay! Well, technically, this would be the- ah, that’s classified!”_

“Nonary Game…? Redux?” Hibiki repeated. The fog clinging to his mind was beginning to clear up at this point now, and he frowned; “What the hell is that? And where am I?”

_“Don’t be so impatient~”_  The girl chided.  _“Well, intros first I guess, hoo~ I’m Tico! I’m one of the helpers to make sure this game runs smoothly! You’re currently in the provin’ grounds of it – but I’ll give more info on that laters! First, you’ll need to escape this room!”_

“Escape?”

_“That’s right!”_  The girl, no, Tico chirped. She lowered her hand, smiling widely. With her wide eyes, it was kind of freaking Hibiki out;  _“You gotta escape, otherwiiiiiise this room will fill up with poisonous gas rilly quickly! You have nine minutes until then, though, to find the keycard to the door – see?”_

Tico pointed downwards, off screen, and Hibiki’s gaze followed the motion to where there was a small contraption installed into the wall, a thin slot for a card in its side. With that he hurriedly checked the door – but the handle refused to even budge.

_“Well I’ll leave you to it!”_  Tico said cheerfully,  _“I’ll tell ya the rest when you join your friends, heeheehee! Remember! Nine minutes! Then it’s a chlorine filled life for you! Have a nice wheeeeeeee~”_

The screen went black, the bunny girl gone, and Hibiki bit his bottom lip so hard he almost blood. Nine minutes – poison gas? Come on, there was no way… Hibiki directed his gaze around the classroom though, inspecting every inch of it. Now that he was looking closely, there were small nozzles sticking out of the skirting board around the room.

Hibiki decided not to chance it.

He could feel sweat sticking to the back of his neck as he lunged for the teacher’s desk first, wrenching at the desk drawers. The top one came out easily, but inside was just a piece of paper with odd symbols. He stuffed it into his pocket without looking at it, and tried the second one. It was locked. He yanked and shook it – he even pulled out the top one completely to see if he could get into that way, but a board blocked his path.

Hibiki cursed and scanned the top of the desk instead, opening the teacher’s books on it and shaking them, to see if anything fell out. Only another piece of paper did, with odd symbols again, and Hibiki stuffed that into his pocket as well. Okay, so the keycard was hiding – were they really making him do puzzles under the threat of death? Was he taken captive by absolute maniacs?

How the hell did he come here anyway? He seriously couldn’t remember…

But this wasn’t the time for reminiscing. When he realised that aside from the locked drawer, the desk held nothing else of value, he pushed away with a growl. He scanned the blackboard next, staring at the rabbit running away from the fox. There didn’t seem to be any clues though, so he dropped his gaze to the little shelf under it again.

…nothing.

Getting a bit desperate now, Hibiki moved through the small desks. They were sparkling clean and their surface void of anything, even paper. It was only when Hibiki met the last row that he realised the desk’s surface lifted up to reveal a small space for books and the like. How long had it been? A few minutes, maybe? Did he have time to check all of these desks? Well, he had to!

Hibiki searched as quickly as he could, but all he could turn up were more papers with symbols. By the end of it, Hibiki was sweating bullets, with a hoodie pocket full of paper and no closer to finding anything resembling a keycard. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

“C’mon, think, think…” Hibiki muttered to himself. Where hadn’t he looked? Well, there was a small bookshelf over there, okay, he can do it. He practically lunged for it, yanking out books and seeing them tumble to the floor. His frantic movements yielded results, however, as he found a small safe installed into the wood behind a particularly heavy stack of books. There was a small pin beside it, but instead of just numbers, there were letters as well, like the keypad of a phone.

“Uh…” Hibiki stared at it blankly before remembering – paper! Symbols! They had-!

He practically tore them out of his pocket, smoothing then against the shelf and staring hard at them. Hexadecimals, if he remembered them correctly. Used in computers and crap. Shit, he was absolute shit at numbers, well no, that wasn’t true, he scored high in Mathematics, but normally after rigorous study – and he really didn’t have the time to think of that okay deep breath deep breath you can do this you still have a few minutes maybe.

Puzzle this out, and the safe’ll have the keycard, okay? Okay. Okay.

Okay.

The numbers may as well have been Greek to him, by how much he stared at the jumbles of letters and numbers, and his shaking fingers were in danger of ripping them to pieces as he shifted from one piece of paper to the other. How can he do this? The pin mocked him, and he clenched his teeth so hard he felt pain between his temples. How can he-?!

Wait.

Hibiki frowned at one of the papers… every piece of paper had one number underlined. 6 or 9. 6 or 9. 6 or 9. 69 69 6996- wait, that was it-!

‘ _With an Algebraic irrational number, it’s really interesting in hexadecimal, because it’s just-‘_

Hibiki was moving before his mind fully caught up, punching in the numbers on the keypad. There were no letters, no letters, just numbers, just-

_6996_

The safe dinged, and unlocked, and Hibiki wrenched it open. Inside sat a key. Not a keycard. A key. He stared at it in despair before he remembered- the teacher’s desk!

He snatched it up, and all but vaulted over the desks in his way, sliding and stumbling to the teacher’s desk. His hands were sweaty, and he almost dropped the key when he tried to slot it into the drawer, but it slide in, and with a firm twist, unlocked. He wrenched it open, and there – the keycard!

Hibiki almost kissed it he was so happy, and he jumped to his feet, running over to the door and jamming the keycard inside it. Just as he did, a quiet hissing noise starting to fill the room, and he looked down to see the nozzles starting to spew a yellowish sort of gas. Hibiki’s heart almost exploded, and he yanked open the door when it unlocked loudly. He fled from the room, slamming the door behind him as he went, and didn’t stop running until he hit a sort of crossroads in the hallway.

Okay. So it hadn’t been a joke. They were planning to gas him to death.

Hibiki let out a laugh, relieved to be alive, and because if he didn’t laugh he feared he would have cried instead, and doubled over, bracing himself on his knees. God, oh god, oh god… he thought feverishly. Every inch of him was trembling like a leaf in a storm, and he was soaked in sweat, but he was alive. That – he felt  _buzzed_. He felt like he could bench press a mountain, and breathe fire he – he was  _alive_.

Right.

Hibiki straightened up, clearing his throat loudly, and wiped his sweaty palms on his hoodie. Where was he? He looked around himself – he seemed to be in some sort of hallway, which split off into two. Looking down one hallway through, he just saw a heavy,  metal door cutting it off a few yards down, the other hallway, however, looked perfectly clear, and let towards a set of oak doors at the far end.

He started down the hallway, his legs feeling a bit weak under him. Tico had said there would be others, didn’t she? Had there been other people trapped in classrooms like that with him? Had all of them – his heart briefly stopped – escaped? What if some of them died…? Not everyone could remember hexadecimals -  hell, Hibiki was lucky that even remembered that thing. Well, okay, in retrospect it seemed pretty easy. Number six and number nine had been circled, so it was logical to think that those were the only numbers to be used…

Hibiki reached the oaken doors. After taking in a deep breath, he pushed the doors open and stepped inside. It seemed like some kind of assembly hall, with a small platform and stand. The hall wasn’t empty though. Eight other people were gathered there, and all of them turned to stare at him in surprise.

He stood awkwardly at the doorway, more than aware of how dishevelled he was when-

“Hibiki!”

Daichi was suddenly pushing through the group of people, running towards him with a worryingly pale face. Hibiki started forwards before he was even conscious of it, his heart leaping into his throat. Daichi was here? So Daichi had to-?!

“Are you okay?” Hibiki demanded as soon as his friend was in arm’s reach, grabbing him and inspecting him from almost every angle. Daichi didn’t seem hurt, just pale, which everyone was, so that was fine-

“Y-Yeah! How about you?” Daichi asked, not minding being jostled about, as he seemed to be doing the same to Hibiki, making sure he wasn’t hurt in some way or manner. After a pause, they both realised how ridiculous they were acting, and exchanged wide, relieved grins. They were both alive and safe… that was all that mattered.

“Well, it seems like the last person finally got here,” a voice cut through their happy reunion, and Hibiki looked past Daichi to see someone standing just behind them. He was a young man, probably about sixteen at least, with dark hair and a pair of… odd headphones. They seemed to mimic cat ears, or devil horns.

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just an educated guess,” the teenager said, lifting his hand up to twist the red wire of his headphones around his finger. “You haven’t checked your bracelet yet, have you? Well, the numbers go up to nine, and we’re missing our number one, so…”

Bracelet?

Hibiki gave Daichi a confused look, but his friend was nodding, lifting up his arm and pulling back his sleeve-

_‘2’_

“Huh?” Hibiki stared at it, and then lifted his own arm, pulling back his sleeves to see – yeah, a bracelet. A bright red ‘1’ glared up at him, and he frowned, digging his fingers under the strap. There was no way to pull it off, no clasp or anything, and the metal strap refused to give way under his tugging and pulling. He gave up with a huff.

“See,” the teenager said. “Anyway, now that everyone’s here, we can, I dunno, sit around in a circle and introduce each other. Tico doesn’t seem to be here yet.”

Hibiki took that moment to look at the other gathered people. All, if not most, appeared to be teenagers, barely above eighteen at most – with the exception of one person. It was a large man, with dark skin and a narrow face; he appeared to be in his twenties, the sole adult amongst the lot of them. It seemed… kind of odd.

But aside from Daichi, Hibiki only recognised one other person – Io. She was standing a little ways away from the actual group, with another girl beside her dressed like, well, a cosplayer. When their gazes met, Io smiled weakly –Hibiki made sure to grin back, even if an unsettled feeling was curdling his stomach. He had a severely bad feeling about all this.

At the headphone’d teenagers suggestion though, everyone ended up arranging themselves into a sort of circle. Hibiki ended up standing between Daichi, and a very pale young man. His skin was white, his hair was white, and his eyes were a pale sort of lilac. Hibiki didn’t even know that eye colour was even possible.

“I’ll start,” the headphone’d teenager said. “I’m Kazuya. I’m number four,” he said, lifting up his bracelet. Indeed, number four was emblazoned there. “Jus’ your normal high school student before I was nabbed.”

“I’m Atsuro, number three,” the beanie wearing boy beside Kazuya piped up. Judging by how close they were sitting, Hibiki guessed he and Kazuya knew each other. “Same as Kaz. We go to the same school.”

“Keisuke,” the glasses wearing boy beside him said. His voice was low and calm – it was actually soothing to listen to. “I’m number five.”

“Midori!” the cosplayer girl beside him half-cheered. In contrast to Keisuke, her voice seemed very… cutesy, almost obnoxiously so, although it didn’t seem like it was deliberate, “I’m number six! I was getting ready for a con when I got snatched!” Ah, that explained her clothes.

“Um…Io,” Io murmured from beside Midori, looking a bit startled by the cosplayer girl’s enthusiasm. “I’m number eight. Just… a normal high school student.”

“Ronaldo,” the large man said. His voice was a low rumble, but it was gentle. His gaze seemed intent on the pale boy beside Hibiki. “I’m number seven. I’m also a detective.” That seemed to peak interest from everyone, but he didn’t say anything else. 

“Ah, uh, Daichi,” Daichi said after a pause, realising it’s his turn. “Just finished high school, heh…oh! Uh, I’m number two!”

“…Hibiki, number one,” Hibiki said, smiling a little at Daichi’s nervousness. “Same. We both finished the same school.”

Then all eyes turned upon the final one – the one that carried number nine. The pale boy just stared back at them silently for a moment, before he smiled. There was something…  _off_  with it. Hibiki couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about how he smiled sent a chill down his spine.

“Yamato,” he said, his voice surprisingly  _deep_. He looked barely eighteen. “As you may have already guessed, I am number nine. I’m an astrophysicist.”

There was a bit of a pause at that.

“You’re a what?” Daichi asked.

“Astrophysicist,” Yamato repeated calmly, and tugged at the pale glove on his hand. “Are you hard of hearing?”

“Aren’t you sorta… young?” Atsuro asked after a pause. The pale boy seemed to ignore him, and just directed his gaze towards the ceiling with a flat look. Ronaldo’s stare hadn’t wavered from him once. Did they know each other?

“…anyway, we all know each other and their numbers now,” Kazuya spoke up. He was giving Yamato a look too, although it seemed more calculating than confused. It was gone as quickly as it had arrived though, so Hibiki wasn’t sure if he just imagined it. “So at least we don’t have to resort to ‘hey you’ during this entire thing.”

“You seem very calm,” Keisuke spoke up suddenly. He sounded calm himself, but Hibiki understood what he meant. They had all been kidnapped and dumped into this weird ‘game’, yet Kazuya appeared to be taking everything very much in stride, and organising everyone as if this wasn’t surprising at all for him.

“Well, yeah. What, you think me howling about the injustice of this is gonna solve anything?” Kazuya snorted. “Hell no. Get everyone organised, exchange information, and wait for this Tico whatever to get their ass here to explain what the fuck is going on.”

That was right. Tico said she would explain everything once Hibiki met up with everyone, but so far the assembly hall was quiet, except for them. As if sharing his thoughts, everyone started peering around the assembly hall. It was void of chairs and any decorations – the only thing was the platform and stand, with a massive screen on the back wall. They all stared at the screen expectantly.

As if summoned, the screen flickered to life, and Tico was there in all of her glory, her smile wide.

_“Heeeeelloooo!! I see we all introduced each other! That’s rilly rilly great! Nice to see that everyone is playing nice and making friends!”_

“What is the meaning of this?” Ronaldo asked – he wasn’t shouting, but his voice seemed to demand attention. Tico wasn’t fazed.

_“You goof, didn’t I say it before? This is the Nonary Game: Redux! You are all the rilly lucky winners to participate in this game! You showed the proper amount of potential to actually succeed! Yay! Let’s hope you do! Because failure means_ death _and no one wants that!”_

The ensuing silence was cold.

_“But it’s time for me to tell you the rules and aim of the game, right?”_  Tico continued on without a pause,  _“Your goal is to find the Number Nine door! When you do, you may leave this place and all of your new friends behind! Kinda sad, huh? To do this, you have to go through the numbered doors ranging from one to eight! Be warned, however, not just_ anyone _can go through the numbered doors~_

_Firstly, does anyone here know what a digital root is?”_

Digital root? There was some confusion, but the pale boy, Yamato, spoke up. His voice was a dull, bored drone; “A digital root is the single digit value obtained by the iterative process of summing digits, by using the result from the previous iteration on each new iteration to compute a digital sum. For example, the digital root of 65536 is 7, as 6 plus 5 plus 5 plus 3 plus 6 equal 25, and 2 plus 5 equal 7.”

Yamato sounded like he was reciting something from a book, or a script. Tico seemed pleased by that answer regardless.

_“Yup yup! That’s it exactly! To go through a numbered door, you need to have the correct numbers to make up that door’s digital root! So, if you wanna go through door number five, you will need five, two, and seven, since their digital root would be five. You get it? Of course, there are other combinations that can make a digital root of five, but that’s just an example!”_

Everyone seemed to absorb this quietly.  

_“Big no-no though! You have to have the bracelets with the correct numbers! If anyone tries sneaking after them, or tries to go through the door without making up its digital root, you will be punished, since that is breaking the rules. And you rilly don’t wanna be punished!”_

“What’s… the punishment?” Hibiki found himself asking.

Tico smiled.  _“Death. The bracelets also carry another function! To make sure you stick to the rules! If anyone breaks any, those bracelets will inject you with Ricinus Communis Agglutinin, or RCA for short! For those who don’t know what that is, direct injection of this into the bloodstream causes the blood to coagulate. Ooooh, a rilly horrible way to die!”_

You could hear a pin drop.

_“Aww, but don’t worry! The rules are really easy to follow! Solve puzzles before the time limit, and have the correct numbers match the numbered doors! That’s it – oh, mm, wait, I feel like there was something else, something important…”_

Tico looked to be in deep thought, tilting her head from side to side.

_“Oh! That’s right!”_  She snapped her fingers.  _“There is also an added mini-game of sorts! After each team goes through a numbered door, you will have to vote on who is the most useless member of your team! It’s toootally mandatory! Those who refuse to play break the rules, and will get that rilly awful injection!”_

A-A mini game? A vote? Hibiki’s head felt like it was spinning, and the bracelet around his wrist felt like a constricting snake. He was carrying poison in this bracelet, one that would kill him in an awful way he- he-!

“What happens to those who are voted the most useless?” Ronaldo asked, his voice tight.

Tico beamed.  _“They get voted off the island! Or, rather, the injections in their bracelets activate, and they die! There’s no use for useless people in this game after all!”_

Hibiki felt nauseous, and everyone else looked ill at the thought as well. Tico’s cheer at explaining this was like a sick joke. She wasn’t serious, was she? This was all a massive prank, right? Who the hell would just, kidnap people, strap poisonous bracelets to their wrists, and have them actively kill each other with such bullshit votes?!

_“Buuut~”_  Tico was continuing,  _“There is_ one _way to vote, and have no one die… but you’ll need to figure that out yourself, heehee~ I can’t give you all the answers!”_

She clapped her hands together.  _“Oh! One more thing! Although I will be supervising this game, the true overseer of this game is none other than Zero! If you’re gonna be mad at someone for putting you in that position, blame them!”_

Zero? Hibiki turned that name over in his head – alias? No one would actually be called ‘Zero’ right?

_“There’s a hidden way to win, too,”_  Tico hummed,  _“If you find Zero and vote him off the island! He’s one of you, after all! Yup yup! The guy who’s stuck you here, he’s amongst you! Oooh, who is it? Such a mystery, right?!”_

One of them was Zero? Everyone gave each other suspicious looks, a heavy tension filling the room. They had to discover who Zero was, and ‘vote him off the island’? But, that didn’t make sense, if they killed Zero, they wouldn’t know why they were here or where they were – what if they were left to rot in here after it was done? Besides, the thought of deliberately killing someone… Hibiki wanted to throw up at the thought.

_“That’s all for now! Since some people do have rilly short memories, the rules and junk are on a piece of paper on the stand there,”_  Tico gestured to the platform where the stand lay.  _“Take your time to explore! But remember, there is no food or water here, soooo~ if you don’t wanna starve or die of thirst, you better get out of here as quickly as possible! Okay, have a nice wheeeeee~”_

The screen went blank, and the room rang with silence. It was broken by a cold, automatic voice, a small school yard chime of ‘ding-dong’ ringing out.

_“Nonary Game Redux has begun.”_


	2. Chapter 2

Hibiki frowned at a lump of muscle floating in a garish green liquid. They were in some sort of laboratory, one that was better suited to a university, and it was filled with beakers and equipment and animals floating in unknown liquids. It carried a strong smell of sulphur as well, the entire room, and the prolonged exposure was making him woozy.

“So gross…” Kazuya was muttering, lifting the jars from the shelves to peek behind them. The glass was covered in a thin layer of dust. They probably hadn’t been moved in weeks, or months. Some of the jars had little stickers attached to them, but the letters and numbers were meaningless to all three of them.

Right, all three of them.

This laboratory had been behind the Number Three door – Hibiki’s, Kazuya’s and Ronaldo’s numbers made the necessary digital root. Hibiki was sad that he couldn’t go with Daichi, but his friend got to go with Io, and Atsuro seemed like a nice guy, so he was pretty much fine with it. He was just… worried. Especially about what came after… that Voting Game…

“By the way, cop guy,” Kazuya suddenly said, turning around from the shelves he was before. Ronaldo was crouched behind one of the benches, rummaging inside the large cabinets underneath them. After a pause, Ronaldo’s head popped up over the edge.

“Yes? Did you find something?”

“Nah, nah, I wanna ask you something,” Kazuya said. “How’d you end up here? It’s been bugging me for a while, but everyone but you are about the same age. That’s kinda suspicious, you know?”

Ronaldo raised an eyebrow. “Do you think I’m Zero?”

“Maybe,” Kazuya said bluntly. “Unless, y’know, there’s a good reason as to why you’re here.”

Hibiki stood awkwardly to the side, feeling a bit uncomfortable with this kind of confrontation. Ronaldo was scrutinising Kazuya, but the teenager met the stare with a stubborn tilt of his jaw. Ever since this Nonary Game began, Kazuya had been quite composed and well put together – if a bit rough with others. He was blunt, and to the point, and didn’t try to soften his words in the slightest.

Considering how tense everyone was about this, that kind of personality was not making Kazuya any friends, but Hibiki could see that he was not intentionally malicious, just… insensitive.

“…that’s fair,” Ronaldo said after a pause. “In this kind of situation, it’s understandable that you would be suspicious of the odd man out.” His lips were curved into a smile, his tone full of wry humour. “Very well. I was telling the truth earlier – I’m a detective. I was currently following a case about a spate of disappearances in local high schools.”

Hibiki’s interest was piqued, and he turned to face Ronaldo fully. Kazuya’s eyes were focused entirely on the detective.

“Disappearances?” Hibiki asked.

“Yes. We’ve been trying to make sure that the media keeps quiet about it, but recently it‘s been all over the news,” Ronaldo grimaced. “Those kidnapped are usually in the age range of fifteen to eighteen, mostly leaning more towards boys than girls. People were snatched without any warning or clues left behind. There was never sign of forced entry, or struggle, or even suspicious people hanging around…”

Actually, something was scratching at Hibiki’s memory now. That’s right, there was something in the news about how nine students had been kidnapped from a high school several months before. None of them had ever been found, no hide or hair…

His stomach dropped immediately.

It must have showed on his face though, because Ronaldo was nodding at him. “Yes, I think we’ve been kidnapped by those who were behind those earlier crimes.”

“You think those students had to play this game as well…?” Hibiki said quietly. “That they…”

There was silence.

“They probably died,” Kazuya said bluntly, “No doubt about it. I mean, if some succeeded, they would’ve just taken a few more to bolster the number back to nine, right? But everybody here’s never been here before, so…”

“Maybe…” Hibiki swallowed. “Didn’t Tico say something though? Um, about this being Nonary Game Redux? If I remember rightly, Redux means ‘revived’, right?”

“But how can it be revived if it’s been going on only a few months ago?” Kazuya pointed out. “Providing those nine students were made to do this, and not something else.”

Ronaldo was quiet, and with a grunt, he hauled himself back up to his feet, leaning his hand on the counter. “Have you two heard of the Hotsuin family?”

Hibiki and Kazuya blinked at the non sequitur.

“Uhhh…” Hibiki thought long and hard. The name meant absolutely nothing to him, and he said as such. Ronaldo looked unsurprised at that. Kazuya, however, was frowning thoughtfully, chewing on his bottom lip.

“The name sounds familiar… I think my brother works for someone named ‘Hotsuin’,” he said after a pause.

“Your brother?” Ronaldo’s attention focused wholly on Kazuya. “What’s his name?”

“Naoya,” Kazuya shrugged. “But it’s just for some programming – ah, right, the Hotsuin family are a group of scientists, aren’t they?” he nodded to himself, as if pleased at his epiphany. “Yeah, yeah! Naoya said so – they’ve got people in all sorts of ranges, like, astrophysics, or biochemistry, or as doctors, or some other stuff. So Naoya helps them out in programming their equipment, since they all have to be specialised.”

Astrophysics? Hibiki’s mind flickered to Yamato briefly. He said he was an astrophysicist, even though he looked so young. Was it possible…

“…you’re right,” Ronaldo said. He had an odd look on his face when he gazed at Kazuya, but it passed quickly, “The Hotsuin Family are more of an organisation than an actual family. Every single one of them excels in a certain scientific field, and their sole goal is to advance as far as possible within that field. They spearhead many experiments that others would be hesitant to try.”

This was interesting, but… “So what does this have to do with the kidnapped students?”

“We- I, believe,” Ronaldo corrected himself, “That they’re behind the kidnappings, behind this sick game. They do many experiments that toe the line, and although they make sure to get legal permission to conduct them, there have been reports of them conducting private,  _illegal_  experiments behind the scenes,” he scowled, his expression almost frightening, “It disgust me, how they treat people like  _lab rats_  for their insane schemes…”

There was a long pause, a very cold one. Kazuya was inspecting his fingernails, trying to dig the dirt out from under them, although his expression was dark. He did say his brother worked for them… was he wondering if Naoya was possibly behind this game? Hibiki didn’t know how that would even feel…

“But… how do you know the Hotsuin are behind this?” Hibiki asked quietly, “Like, was there any proof, or evidence, you dug up?”

Ronaldo’s shoulders slumped, a low breath leaving him. “…nothing that can be used officially,” he admitted. “My only solid proof is that my- my mentor,” his expression tightened, “He had been investigating the Hotsuin Family. Then one day he just vanished. It’s obvious what happened! He got too close to their secrets, and they had him removed as a result!”

Hibiki leaned back at the man’s impassioned shout. He sympathised, he really did but, that seemed really flimsy. It’s possible the Hotsuin family  _did_  get rid of him if he was sniffing around, but at the same time,  _anything_  could have happened. However, it seemed that they at least had a suspect – a lot of good it did them, though. If the Hotsuin family were behind it, they could hardly do anything about it in their current position, and Hibiki doubted they would leave evidence of their involvement if they even escaped.

“You were staring at that guy…” Kazuya said suddenly. He dropped his hand, lifting his head to peer at Ronaldo. “The pale one. Number Nine.”

“…yes,” Ronaldo frowned. “I recognise him… which confuses me.”

Hibiki was pretty confused too. Was Ronaldo not supposed to recognise him?

“He’s Yamato  _Hotsuin_ ,” Ronaldo clarified, seeing Hibiki’s confused expression. “He was telling the truth in being an astrophysicist. He’s the Hotsuin Family’s greatest prodigy to date – I think he’s even released several theories and investigations on the Time Dilation.”

“Time Dilation…?”

Kazuya fielded this one, “Time Dilation’s when gravity and velocity accelerate or decelerate time. Like, you know how astronauts up in satellites age slower than those who live on earth? That kind of thing.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Hibiki said, “If the Hotsuin family is behind these, uh, Nonary Games, then why would they have their smartest and brightest playing it? This stuff can kill you! I mean, they said it’d kill us, but, if we think the past nine students were killed playing this game…”

“That’s what’s confusing me,” Ronaldo admitted. “I need to talk to him,” he whispered. “I need to get answers – maybe he objected to these experiments, maybe he even volunteered to participate, I don’t know. But I have to know. I have to bring this family to justice, and he’s my main lead…”

“You still haven’t answered my first question, though,” Kazuya interrupted, “How did you end up here? Like, me, I was sitting in my room with Atsuro, just chilling, when this white gas suddenly filled it up. Next thing I know I was waking up in a classroom.”

“Ah, right,” Ronaldo cleared his throat, “I’d been at home, looking through past kidnapping cases to try and pinpoint how they were carried out when, a white gas…”

They fell quiet. Hibiki tentatively broke it.

“I was… at home,” he said softly, “I was just getting ready for bed when a white gas flooded my room.”

“That explains why there was never any sign of struggle,” Ronaldo murmured, “But that doesn’t explain why there was no sign of forced entry. How did they get inside of our homes without leaving evidence behind?”

There was a long moment where they thought long and hard. Kazuya broke it with a sudden snort, and he turned to the shelf again.

“Well, we don’t have any information. Hotsuin family or not – guess we all agree we have to talk to that Yamato guy. He can at least determine if they’re behind this or not, so that gives us some sort of start.”

“Yes,” Ronaldo agreed, “but first we have to get out of this room.”

Hibiki turned back to his own shelf at that, more determined than ever to finish. Right. Yamato. That odd boy. To think he was actually an astrophysicist though… were the Hotsuin family just a bunch of creepy geniuses? His smile had given him chills, like it’d been mechanical and doll-like…

For some reason, he felt a sensation of foreboding.

**—-**

They all met up again in an assembly hall that looked exactly like the first. Although they had concluded that everyone would meet up again (since there was no way for them to open the Number Nine door if they all remained separated), it was still a relief to see everyone safe and sound. Hibiki made a beeline for Daichi and Io, immediately, and he saw everyone else break up into their own little groups as well – except for Yamato and Ronaldo.

It was almost like a Mexican Standoff. Yamato was standing stock still near the door he had exited out of, staring at Ronaldo – not out of fear or anything, but more like contemplation, like how someone would stare when calculating their grocery budget. Ronaldo was staring back, although his expression was more determined and intent.

Finally Ronaldo approached Yamato, and said quietly – Hibiki had to strain to overhear them; “I need to ask you some questions. In private. Will you come with me?”

“Of course,” Yamato replied. His tone was dull. “Lead the way.”

Ronaldo looked about, and spotted a small door that led out of the assembly hall. Hibiki wasn’t sure if they could split up again just yet, but Ronaldo was already walking, Yamato at his heels. In only a half a minute, they slipped out – and it seemed only Hibiki had noticed.

“We were in some kind of store room,” Daichi was saying, “It was full of all these chemicals and boxes – but we found  _this_!”

He was holding up a keycard. It had the mark of Leo on it.

“A key card?” Hibiki asked. He took it from Daichi, turning it over his hand. The plastic was smooth, but aside from the Leo mark, there was no other clue as to what it was for. He looked between Daichi and Io, but they seemed just as clueless as him. “There wasn’t a note or anything?”

“No…” Io said quietly. “Do you think it’s for that, um, Voting Game? Tico never explained how the game would be carried out, just that it would be done after getting through doors.”

That was true… Hibiki looked about the assembly hall, but there were only three doors. The small one Ronaldo and Yamato left out of, the large double doors that led to somewhere unknown, and a tiny one behind the assembly hall’s stage. It was identical to the last assembly’s layout, so Hibiki guessed that the next batch of numbered doors would be behind the small door behind the stage.

There was also a massive screen, so, maybe Tico would appear at some point to explain the rules to them.

“I really don’t want to do this,” Hibiki sighed. “She said there was a way to vote where no one would die, but… how?”

“Mm, maybe she means, a stalemate?” Io suggested. “If only one person can die… if there’s a tie between two people, then neither of them can be chosen, right?”

That was true – it sounded like the most logical thing. But that seemed… way too easy. They would just have to pick the two people who would be in the stalemate, and sort out who would vote for who. It had a chance of going horribly wrong if someone voted poorly, though, and – that was a lot of trust, too. Who would willingly let themselves be voted on to possibly die?

Suddenly it didn’t seem too easy. Most of them were strangers – and one of them was possibly Zero. Zero could easily vote wrongly, and just be like “oops I forgot who I was supposed to vote for! Tee hee!” It was just way too risky.

Any further contemplation was ended when the small door slammed open. Everyone jumped almost a foot in the air, and turned to see a frazzled Ronaldo standing in the entrance way. He was slightly out of breath, although he pulled himself together at everyone staring at him.

“There’s been an incident,” he said. Hibiki noticed Yamato wasn’t with him. “I ask all of you to remain calm and come with me.”

Uneasiness rose in Hibiki’s gut, but everyone leapt to obey. They followed Ronaldo out of the small room and down the hallway – it was a narrow corridor that twisted around like a backwards L, leading to a pair of double doors. They were open, and led into what looked like some sort of office.

The first thing Hibiki noticed was Yamato. His back was to them, but he was like a statue. Absolutely still. Hibiki doubted he was even breathing at that moment. His gaze seemed fixed on something before him – and that was when Hibiki saw it.

Someone was sitting at the desk – or, rather, was lying prone over it, slumping forwards in the large computer chair. He had white hair like Yamato, but it was shaggy and curly, and matted with red. His head was resting on its side, so Hibiki could see the man’s – and it was a man – face. His eyelashes were long, very long, and very pale, and his eyes were half open, pupils dilated and glazed with death – but even then, Hibiki could make out the lilac hue-

Pale hair. Lilac eyes. Hibiki’s gaze snapped to Yamato once more.

He was still standing there, absolutely still, staring at the man with a terrifyingly blank expression.

Io gasped at his side, her hands pressing against her mouth, and behind him he could hear Keisuke telling Midori to stay outside. She was complaining loudly about it, but Hibiki was deaf to her voice. Daichi was staring, pale-faced and horrified, and behind him Hibiki could see Atsuro pulling down his beanie, staring down at the floor with his mouth pinched shut, and Kazuya-

Kazuya looked deathly pale, and for a moment Hibiki was worried that he was going to faint.

“W-Who…?” Hibiki found himself asking. His voice sounded miles away. There was someone dead on before them. Dead. Actually dead. Lying on a desk, there was blood pooling on the desk as well, from under his head and – Hibiki’s gaze moved from the desk to the far wall – there were blood splatters, thick, globs of red and brown. Had he been… shot?

“It seems he died several hours ago,” Ronaldo’s voice was grim. He looked somewhat pale, but otherwise more composed than everyone else. Yamato still wasn’t moving. “Before the game officially started.”

What did that mean? Hibiki’s felt like the cogs in his brain were jamming. What did that mean? A man was dead. He died before the Nonary Game. Why was he dead? Who was he? Why was he dead? He wasn’t wearing a bracelet. Why did Hibiki notice that detail. Who was he? Why? Why?

“…alcor…”

Everyone jumped. It was Yamato. His voice was very quiet, and there was a very… worrying edge to it. His shoulders moved with a sudden breath, and he stepped towards the desk. No one stopped him as he made his way around it to stand at the man’s side. He didn’t touch the body, or do anything else, except stare at it.

“Do you… know him?” Ronaldo asked him gently.

That seemed to break whatever eerie calm Yamato was under. He suddenly jerked, and he lifted a hand to his mouth, as if holding back vomit. It took Hibiki a moment to realise that he was  _grinning_.

“Yes… I knew him,” he said, his tone suddenly feverish. His gaze snapped over them, and they were far too bright. He looked like he was on the edge of sanity, and Hibiki took an unconscious step back. Everyone did. Except Kazuya. He still looked extremely pale, but he was looking at Yamato now, his lips pressed into a thin, unhappy line.

“Of course, right, so… that is… how it is,” Yamato was muttering. He was moving, little twitches and gestures. “So we have to think – this man died before the game officially started. So, if we follow that vein, then, we can deduce, that Zero was the one, who killed him, correct?”

No one spoke. Ronaldo was moving very slowly towards Yamato, like how one would approach a wild animal. Yamato didn’t seem to notice.

‘ _He’s snapped,_ ’ Hibiki couldn’t help but think. It surprised him because the man seemed otherwise composed earlier – but Yamato looked  _disturbed_. Yes, despite the dead smile on his lips, he looked rattled and disturbed. Who was this man? To make Yamato so unsettled?

“Then, following that, if Zero is the one who killed him, then, it was one of you.”

Ronaldo stopped. Everyone stopped.

Yamato was suddenly calm. Tranquil, even. His gaze swept over everyone assembled.

“One of you murdered him. That’s the logical conclusion, isn’t it? ‘Zero is one of you’. As he died before the Nonary Game began, then it follows that Zero was the only one with freedom of movement in this time. They killed Alcor. So. One of you killed Alcor. As one of you is Zero.”

“Yamato,” Ronaldo said gently. He was within arm’s reach now, although he didn’t touch him. “I understand that you may be shocked, but casting wild accusations like that will cause the group to fall apart. We only have Tico’s word that Zero is amongst us – how do we know that this isn’t something said to cast suspicion into the group for the Voting Game?”

“Zero is one of us,” Yamato said it with such confidence that Hibiki couldn’t help but believe him. “And who has experience with firearms here? Mm?  _Detective_?”

Yamato practically purred that, and it was positively  _disturbing_. Ronaldo’s jaw clenched, but he otherwise took the implication in stride. Yamato wasn’t thinking straight – he apparently knew this man, and despite his air of calm, was obviously upset by it. Hibiki couldn’t help but glance at Ronaldo though. He was the only adult here – and he had been trying to cast suspicion on Yamato back at the lab, no matter how mildly…

“I was unarmed when I woke up, but in your current state, I’ll doubt you’ll believe me,” Ronaldo said quietly. “I agree that Zero is the likeliest suspect for this crime, but accusing one of us here is… rash. Think calmly, Yamato. There is a body here, found before the Voting Game starts…”

And Yamato, in his horror, would cast suspicion on Ronaldo, as the man was killed by a gun, and a detective would have knowledge on firearm usage. Hibiki could see the leap of logic. Then, if it’s revealed that Ronaldo  _wasn’t_  Zero, they all would have killed an innocent man…

“Maybe we should go back to the assembly hall,” Kazuya finally said. His voice was very quiet. “We can ask Tico about it, when she comes to tell us about the Voting Game.”

Everyone murmured their agreement. They all started to trickle out of the office – except Yamato. He stood there, his gaze boring into Ronaldo’s retreating back before he moved after them, his movements purely mechanical. The door was closed after him, leaving the man, Alcor, slumped over his desk in the dark. 


	3. Chapter 3

When everyone was gathered back in the assembly hall, the relief from earlier had been sucked right out of them. The air was sombre, like a massive, oppressive weight was trying to crush them down into the earth. Everyone just stood around staring at each other – except for Yamato. In direct contrast to his earlier bright eyed wildness, he may as well have been a ghost. His eyes were dull, his face positively  _grey_ , and his expression blank. Unlike the others he was just staring at the floor.

It was Daichi who broke the silence.

“S-So… um, when’s the Voting Game going to start?”

It wasn’t a very good distraction, since the Voting Game brought the impending doom of one unlucky participant. With everyone staring at him, Daichi shrank back down with a guilty apology. Hibiki couldn’t fault him. He had been ready to break the silence with someone equally dumb – like asking Yamato who that man had been.

As horrified as he was… he was burning with curiosity. Considering Yamato may have a link to whoever’s running this game, it seemed… like it could shed a lot of insight into whatever the hell was happening. But every time he looked at Yamato, he couldn’t do it. He looked empty, and Hibiki was wary in bringing back that wild-eyed insanity the man had almost fallen into.

There was a schoolyard chime, and everyone jumped in surprise. It seemed entirely out of place.

 _“Heeeeeyoooo~”_ It was Tico. Her cheerful face appeared on the screen above the stage.  _“I see everyone’s here, yay! We’re ready to play the Mini Game!”_

“Hold on!” That was Ronaldo. “Forget the ‘game’ for the moment – there is a dead man in-”

 _“Ooh, you found His Majesty,”_  Tico interrupted. She briefly pouted, but the cheer rapidly appeared,  _“Yup yup. His Majesty met an untimely end. It was rilly sad! But the game has to continue!”_

His Majesty?

As everyone tried to puzzle that title out, Yamato spoke. His tone was very soft, but there was something painfully sharp about it. “Who killed him?”

Something about that question struck Hibiki as odd, although he couldn’t figure it out at the time. ‘Who killed him’? Hadn’t Yamato established that it had to be Zero? Hibiki wasn’t sure if he was being nitpicky at the time, but… something about it struck him as odd.

 _“Sorry~ That’s classified! Part of the game!”_  Tico said cheerfully,  _“Just know that we objected a lot to it, but it had to be done! Goodbye, His Majesty! We’ll remember you always! But the Mini-Game! The Mini-Game! If you could direct your gaze to the left!”_

Everyone turned to the left, to where the double doors lay. Yamato was still staring at Tico –with something akin to utter hatred. It almost made him looked demonic, and Hibiki had to look away from him. Terrifying…

_“Behind that door is a looooooooong corridor! At the end of the corridor is the voting room! It’s rilly simple! Only one person can enter at a time, and there will be a polling booth in the centre! Place your bracelet next to the verification scanner, and pick any of the nine names that will be on there!”_

Nine?

“Nine?” Atsuro spoke up. “You mean, we can vote for ourselves?”

 _“Yup yup! Although I dunno why you would buuuut~ there you have it!”_  Tico giggled. _“Anyone who gets the highest votes will get the lethal injection! But only nine minutes after the last person has voted! If someone abstains from voting, they will be executed alongside the loser! Scary!”_

She let them all absorb this, and there was something frightening about her obliviously cheerful face. How could she look so happy after describing something so awful?

_“Annnyway, to get to the voting room, you’ll need that room’s keycard! You find the keycards in one of the rooms you search through! This vote’s keycard is ‘Leo’! If you don’t have it, then everyone gets disqualified immediately!”_

What?

“W-What?” That was Kazuya, “That isn’t fair! If there’s only one keycard, and we don’t find it, or don’t even go into it’s room…!”

 _“Then you’ll die,”_  Tico finished cheerfully,  _“But you know better for next time, right?”_

Next time?

Everyone looked just as confused as Hibiki felt, but Tico continued with her explanation.

_“Sooo~ does everyone have that? The Leo Key Card is necessary for the current Voting Game! Each Voting Room is behind the double doors in each assembly hall! Everyone has to vote; otherwise those who abstain will be executed alongside the loser. You can vote for anyone, including yourself. And remember, only one at a time in the Voting Room! If you break that rule, you’ll be executed. Does everyone understand?”_

No one moved or spoke. Tico took it as a ‘yes’.

 _“Hurray! Then, Voting Game_ start _! Open the room in the next nine minutes, otherwise all of you will be disqualified!_   _Have a nice wheeeeeeee~!”_

The screen went blank. The silence was suffocating.

“Who has the Leo key card?” Kazuya asked quietly.

“Our team did,” Atsuro replied, glancing at Daichi – who quickly pointed at Hibiki. With the weight of everyone’s gazes, Hibiki dug his hand into his pocket and held up the Leo card. Everyone just stared at it, and it felt like it weighed a tonne in Hibiki’s hand. In nine minutes, someone was going to be voted to die.

“This is when we have to decide what to do,” it was Keisuke who spoke. His low, soothing voice was just the balm this tense situation needed. “If we take what Tico said as truth, then it may be possible for no one to die.”

“Really?” Midori asked quietly – she had gone pale during the explanation of the Voting Game, and her hopeful gaze was almost painful for Hibiki to look at. She looked pretty young as well, maybe about fifteen – if Hibiki thought this was hard for him, he didn’t want to know how she was feeling about all this.

“Tico said there was a hidden way for no one to die during the Voting Game – yet included the option to vote for yourself. I believe that if everyone voted for themselves, no one would win, and no one would lose. It’s as close to abstaining as you can get. The other alternative would be to stalemate between two people, but that carries more risks.”

That… actually sounded like it could work! Hibiki could feel his heart start to rise – until Yamato spoke.

“But what if someone votes otherwise.”

Everyone paused, then turned to stare at Yamato. The pale man’s gaze was latched onto Ronaldo, and the detective met it unflinchingly. There was something… troublingly dark in that gaze of his. Without looking away from Ronaldo, Yamato continued; “What if we all agreed to vote for ourselves? Then the one who is Zero can easily vote for the one he wished to do away with. The loser would have two votes, one from him, one from Zero.”

“But… why would Zero reveal himself like that?” Hibiki asked, “Like, that’d mean we’d all know who he is, and can vote against him in the next game.”

“Hah…” Yamato looked away from Ronaldo, staring directly at Hibiki. He almost shrank back from the weight of that cruel stare. “Possibly. But can all of you, in good conscience, kill someone? Even if it’s to escape?”

There was a tense silence.

Yamato continued, smiling widely. “Right, no one would admit to that. But people show their true colours in these situations. We can all agree ‘yes, we’ll vote for ourselves so no one will die’, but that means Zero can kill any of us at any time – or even just one of the other players. You have to think ‘do I want to trust these people I don’t know, or do I want to survive’? Do you honestly trust these people?”

No one said a work, and Yamato looked about them with a contemptuous expression.

“I am asking; do you honestly trust these people? If you vote for yourself, you are forfeiting your vote, and in fact, placing yourself closer to death in doing so. One of us is Zero. Remember that.”

“N-No!” Midori spoke up. Her voice quavered a little, but she straightened up, squaring her shoulders and meeting Yamato’s cold stare boldly. “No! That way of thinking is wrong! If we all believe and trust in each other, then no one will die, and we’ll all reach the end alive! Mister Ronaldo is right in that, in that Tico probably said all that dumb stuff, and, and had that dead guy, just to make us distrust each other!”

“That’s right…” Io agreed, “If we all start fighting each other, we’ll fall apart before we even get to the end. Um, that’s…” she faltered a bit at Yamato’s glare. “That’s what I…think…”

Everyone else murmured their agreement, and Yamato gave them all a frustrated scowl.

“Fine. I understand. You have to maintain that type of façade, don’t you?” Yamato snapped. His gaze was suspicious and vicious, and Hibiki couldn’t meet his eyes when his stare swept over him. “Well, I’ll say it straight out then. I will not be voting for myself.”

Everyone was quiet, staring at Yamato in shock.

Yamato was gazing at Ronaldo as he said, very slowly and clearly, “I’ll be voting for _you_.”

Ronaldo met the gaze evenly, but his expression was tense. Hibiki couldn’t even begin to think of the situation was in. If Ronaldo voted for himself, and then Yamato voted… then Ronaldo would die. To save himself, Ronaldo would have to vote for someone else – Yamato. But what if Yamato changed his mind at the last minute, and voted for himself? Then he would die, and Ronaldo would have murdered him.

A cold voice rang out.

_‘The Voting Game will take place in three minutes. Failure to unlock door by then will result in all participants being disqualified.’_

Yamato moved. He strode forwards, his gaze not leaving Ronaldo’s for a second, until he passed him and stalked to the double doors. Reluctantly, everyone followed after him, their earlier hope soured by Yamato’s declaration. Could they trust each other to vote for themselves? Would Yamato actually kill Ronaldo? Would Ronaldo try to save himself? Or would he let Yamato kill him?

The double doors led down a hallway –a plain one that was almost identical to the room that led to the dead man in the office. Eventually they came across an equally plain door with a card reader beside it, a red light blinking.

Hibiki quietly shuffled to the front of the group, and swiped the Leo Card through the reader. It beeped and the door opened. The room was small, and right in the centre was a small polling machine. Otherwise the room was entirely empty and unremarkable.

_‘The Voting Room has been opened. Number One, please step inside and vote within the next nine minutes.’_

Hibiki slipped the Leo Card into his pocket, and shifted his weight from foot to foot. He deeply regretted being number one now. If the doors didn’t lock, no one would be able to see what he voted anyway, considering that his back would be to the group, and block the screen from view. But still, to vote for someone with them directly looking at you –this game was truly sadistic. Not, that, Hibiki was planning on voting for anyone. He doubted he could do anything like that.

“Well, I better go…” Hibiki said weakly. No one responded, and he took a deep breath, stepping inside. The doors didn’t close, and his shoulders slumped, shuffling over to the machine. He inspected it, and saw a little scanner to the side. He held his bracelet up to it, and it beeped. The screen lit up, and there were a row of names on it. As there were no buttons, Hibiki guessed it to be touch screen.

Right at the top was his name in capital letters; HIBIKI KUZE.

He took a deep breath, lifting his hand - but paused. Yamato’s voice rang through his head. Zero was one of them, that’s what Tico said, and Yamato seemed so convinced of that fact. If that was true, then voting for himself –if everyone knew that everyone was voting for themselves, it would be so easy for you to be killed. If Hibiki voted for himself, someone just had to select his name even once, and he’d die.

His hand was trembling, he realised. He took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. Could he really trust these people? He had to. He couldn’t vote for anyone else – he couldn’t even consider risking becoming a murderer just to protect himself. He… he had to trust… he had to…

His hand wouldn’t stop shaking.

He jabbed at the screen, and it dinged merrily. He turned away and quickly walked out of the room, feeling claustrophobic. Everyone was staring at him, and they felt accusing, or suspicious, but HIbiki wasn’t sure if that was just his paranoia acting up from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He managed a weak smile though.

Daichi was after him, and he watched as his friend wobbled into the room. He spent a long minute in front of the polling booth, but tapped decisively at it in the end. He too returned pale faced and unsure.

It continued along with that – Ronaldo only took a second to vote, jabbing the screen immediately and then walking right back out –until it was Yamato’s turn. Everyone watched him as he strode into the room purposefully, scanned his bracelet, and tapped the screen with a swift decisiveness like Ronaldo before him. He walked right back out with a darkly satisfied expression.

The doors closed immediately afterwards, and the cold voice rang out again.

_“Please gather in the assembly hall for the results.”_

No one said a word as they walked down the hallway. Every step felt like it was closer to death, and Hibiki felt like he was going to jittery right out of his skin. Did anyone else vote for him? What about Yamato and Ronaldo? Was someone going to die? Was someone going to die in front of him? Seeing that man –Alcor – prone over his desk was frightening enough, but to watch someone writhe on the ground from their blood coagulating was…

He felt his stomach churn, and he swallowed down the rising bile. It’ll work out, maybe, Yamato reconsidered, or Ronaldo voted for Yamato…

They entered the assembly hall, and they all looked up at the screen. After a pause it lit up, and a row of names appeared – with tally marks.

 _Hibiki Kuze – 1_  
Daichi Shijima – 1  
Atsuro Kihara – 1  
Kazuya Minegishi – 0  
Keisuke Takagi – 0  
Midori Komaki – 1  
Ronaldo Kuriki – 2  
Io Nitta - 1  
Yamato Hotsuin – 2

There was a stunned silence, and Hibiki had to blink a few times to read them correctly. Ronaldo got two so, he voted for himself, and Yamato voted for him? But, how did Yamato have two votes? Kazuya and Keisuke were the other two votes, but who did they vote for and why?

He turned around to stare at Yamato, and his face was cold and blank, eyes narrowed in frustration. He made a snorting noise and stormed away from the group, down to the little door that led to the dead man and – with a loud bang, opened and slammed the door after him. The noise echoed in the assembly hall.

“Ah… so glad that worked out,” Kazuya chuckled nervously. “Wasn’t sure if he’d reconsider but… y’know…”

Keisuke was silent, but judging by how his shoulders were slumped, he, too, was relieved that his gamble hadn’t ended with killing one of the two. Did they try to balance the results so no one would die? Hibiki didn’t know if he wanted to kiss them for their ingenuity, or smack them for their recklessness. If they did it wrong, then they could have killed Yamato or Ronaldo!

“…thank you,” Ronaldo muttered. He had been sweating slightly, and Hibiki realised that Ronaldo had probably voted for himself. Even with his life in danger, he probably couldn’t bring himself to vote against Yamato. He couldn’t blame him – aside from the fact that Yamato was a grief stricken teenager; he also possessed vital information Ronaldo needed. He would have buried his only lead forever if he voted against him.  

Ronaldo quickly frowned though, “But that was reckless, you could have killed him.”

“But we didn’t, so it all worked out,” Kazuya said, waving his hand about as if to dismiss the entire thing. “Look, I think he’d probably regret it afterwards, y’know? So we were doing him a favour. He probably isn’t thinking straight since… well…”

Everyone stared at the door where Yamato had stormed into. An awkward silence fell.

“Anyway… I think we deserve a bit of a break,” Kazuya said, wiping the back of his hand against his brow. “I’ve been sweating so much… wish they had showers here…”

It was such a mundane thing to grumble about, but Hibiki found himself smiling weakly anyway. Yeah, they were all alive. No one died. It all worked out – but, well, they still needed to proceed through the next few Numbered Doors, and they had the next Voting Game to worry about, but, maybe they could dissuade Yamato from trying to murder Ronaldo again.

In fact, him locking himself up with the corpse probably wasn’t healthy for him… as everyone broke up into their little groups, the assembly hall filling with nervous, yet relieved, chatter, Hibiki eyed the small door. Yamato scared him, truthfully, but they had to stick together throughout this… Yamato distrusted all of them, and after this, probably even more so. Maybe he should try to talk to him…

Hibiki thought back to that man, sprawled over the desk, eyes glazed over with death, and shuddered. No, maybe he should… leave him alone. Hibiki didn’t know him, and didn’t know if his presence would be wanted.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he turned away from the door. It was probably for the best. Probably…

Ah, why did his head hurt, suddenly? 


	4. Chapter 4

Hibiki never felt so uncomfortable in his life.

He and his group went through the number five door – although this time it was a bit bigger, as there were only two doors for everyone to go through; Four and Five. That meant the next doors would most likely be six, seven, and eight, and after that… number nine. They were so close to freedom!

But first, Hibiki had to survive his current group. The room they found themselves in wasn’t that dangerous –it looked to be a reception room –but for the two groups to split up with everyone in it, it required Ronaldo and Yamato to be paired up (as only a maximum of five people could move through the doors), with Hibiki and Midori trapped in the middle.

The room was tiny, so they were all sort of cramped together – all but rubbing shoulders, really. Yamato was standing in the corner, strangely calm and reserved. Hibiki had expected him to still be angry, or crazy, or… something. Instead he looked as if the past half hour hadn’t happened, tugging at the gloves on his hand almost absently.

Ronaldo looked like he was trying to pretend his attempted murder hadn’t happened either – although he didn’t look happy about it. His mouth was pinched slightly, and he would cast Yamato glances every so often, open his mouth, close it, and return to rummaging through the receptionist’s desk. Hibiki and Midori were deathly silent – the girl actually looked sort of nervous, but she was puffing out her cheeks in a determined expression, refusing to let the heavy atmosphere suffocate her.

Finally, Ronaldo spoke.

“Yamato,” he said at last, straightening up and staring at the pale teenager dead on. “I didn’t kill that man.”

Yamato stilled, and his eyes slid over to Ronaldo. He otherwise didn’t move or speak.

“…I have no motivation to kill him, being ignorant of his identity,” Ronaldo continued. He heaved a sigh, and he suddenly looked to have aged in ten years, his shoulders slumping. “I believe this was done so you would be suspicious of me, Yamato.”

“You wanted to talk to me,” Yamato said quietly. His voice was calm and soft. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

Ronaldo paused. “Your family. I’ve been investigating-”

“Then there is your motivation,” Yamato interrupted. “That man was part of the Hotsuin family. He was called Al Saiduq Hotsuin.”

“But, you called him Alcor…” Hibiki spoke up, his tone hesitant.

A muscle in Yamato’s jaw jumped, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “…that’s my name for him, that’s why.” His tone was suddenly standoffish and hostile, and Hibiki quickly turned back to the bookshelf he had been inspecting previously.

“Al Saiduq…?” Ronaldo’s eyes were wide. “Do you mean – he’s the leading expert on Artificial Intelligence. I had no idea he was part of the Hotsuin family.”

“He tends to keep that fact quiet,” Yamato replied. “But yes. He… is part of the family. Distantly. I know you,” he said abruptly, his gaze focusing intently on Ronaldo. “The rat who keeps sniffing about places where he shouldn’t be. Talking to people he shouldn’t. Causing trouble. We know all about your prying and snooping…”

There was something eerie about the way he said that, and Ronaldo stiffened, his Adam’s apple bobbing in a thick swallow.

“Is that so?” Ronaldo asked, his voice a low rumble.

“Yes,” Yamato smiled. “Truthfully, I don’t believe you to be Alcor’s murderer, but you are a threat that needs to be removed anyway.”

“…!! You say that so lightly…?” Ronaldo asked, genuinely taken aback. “Do you even know what you’re saying? That’s-”

“Murder? I know,” Yamato was calm. It was chilling, and his face was so still. It was like he was some odd doll playing as human, his smile all wrong, and his eyes far too bright. It was then that Hibiki realised what exactly had been making him uneasy around Yamato – he looked constantly  _on edge_. Not, anxious but, not really all there in the head. Like something had snapped inside of him eons ago, leaving his sanity hinging on a knife’s edge.

What the hell had happened to him…?

“…” Ronaldo looked frustrated, his face set tightly. “…did you volunteer to participate in this game?”

“You think the Hotsuin family are behind it?” Yamato asked. He blinked once. Slowly. “I didn’t volunteer.”

He sounded truthful there, and Ronaldo jerked his chin slightly, a heavy exhale leaving his nose. Everyone was frozen in place. Hibiki was staring at the exchange, his hand on a book, Midori looked like she was trying to blend into the wallpaper, her fingers curling and twisting uncertainly into the front of her dress, Ronaldo was standing tensely behind the desk, and Yamato… looked unnaturally tranquil.

“Do you know of spacetime?” Yamato said suddenly. “It’s a mathematical model where we combine space and time into a single continuum. Before, time was regarded as separate from space, something that is constant and never changing, but recent studies have revealed that velocity and gravity affect the flow of time. Due to this, we are able to combine space and time into a single manifold, which greatly simplifies a large number of physical theories, as well as describing a more, ah, organised way that the universe functions at both supergalactic and subatomic levels.”

There was nothing but confused silence, everyone staring at Yamato. The pale teenager seemed unaffected by it, his gaze staring at Ronaldo levelly.

“Time cannot be separated from the three dimensions of space, because the observed rate of time for a specific object depends on those things: velocity of the observer, and nearby gravitational forces. Mathematically, combining these things yields a manifold that is constructed of ‘events’, which are described through some type of coordinate system.”

Yamato began to pace, slow, methodical strides, his expression and posture calm.

“In spacetime, the use of this coordinate system allows you to pinpoint events in both time and space. You can specify where and when events occur. However,” he stopped abruptly, “There are restrictions even then, ones that I won’t get into here.”

Hibiki was utterly lost, and a quick glance at Midori’s glazed expression, and Ronaldo’s utterly flummoxed one, told him he wasn’t alone. They were talking about murder, and then Yamato was rambling about spacetime? From what he could parse from all that, spacetime was a manifold where they combined the three dimensions of space, as well as time (so it counted as a fourth dimension?) to understand how the universe functions? Or something?

“To continue, the manifold that spacetime is represented by is called the Lorentzian Manifold. The causal relations between points within that manifold are used to help describe which events in spacetime can influence which other events.” Yamato rubbed his hand over his mouth, smiling slightly. “Isn’t that interesting? I think it is.”

“…I don’t see how it’s relevant to our talk,” Ronaldo finally said, cautiously, like he wasn’t quite sure how to handle Yamato.

“It’s very relevant,” Yamato said. He dropped his hand. “Pretend that this game we’re in is a type of manifold. Time and space have been melded into one single, continuum here. So then, by that logic, we can say how and when events can occur, and how they would impact other events, if we discover our, ah, coordinate system.”

“Are you…like, trying to say we can predict the future…?” Midori finally spoke up. Her face was scrunched up, obviously struggling to keep up.

Yamato barked with laughter. “No one can predict the future. It’s impossible. Time cannot loop back in such a way, no matter how much we wish it. It can be slowed, however – but that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“What are you talking about, then?” Ronaldo asked.

“…I don’t think I’m explaining myself clearly,” Yamato muttered. “Maybe I should choose something easier to comprehend. Have you heard of the Many-Worlds Interpretation?”

This, Hibiki could understand at least. “Isn’t it the idea that, a single decision can split the timeline you’re in into two different paths?”

Yamato nodded. “To put it simply, yes. It’s like a tree, branches that grow and split off, yet never coming into contact with one another. Some are longer than others, some are shorter, some twist, some go straight… they are infinite in shapes, styles, and numbers.”

There was a pause.

“This is very interesting,” Ronaldo said, “But what does this have to do with anything?”

“Everything, really,” Yamato shrugged lightly. “Imagine if we could access the information gathered in those alternative timelines. The branches never touch, yet if you could merely meld them all into a single continuum, able to use the events that occur in those branches, to predict what would occur in  _this_  branch…”

He stopped, resting his hand on his hip. He was smiling, and for once he – he actually seemed human. The expression was genuine, and there was a light in his eyes that wasn’t edged with insanity or rage.

“We just need the coordinate system. A bit of trial and error.”

“…are you Zero?” Ronaldo asked quietly.

“No,” Yamato said. He didn’t flinch, twitch, or look away. He appeared entirely truthful. “But the Nonary Games I am familiar with. The Hotsuin family conducted one nine years ago. It’s in public records, so I know you know.”

Ronaldo looked away with a grimace, and Hibiki frowned. So, that’s why Ronaldo had been so convinced…? Because the Hotsuin family had played a Nonary Game before? Why didn’t he say so back in the lab? That was better evidence than his mentor randomly disappearing.

“Eighteen children were used in that game…” Ronaldo muttered, “However… recently, for the past few years, nine students are being kidnapped every few months. Are you telling me the Hotsuin family are not involved? That they’re not continuing this sick game? That this isn’t them?”

“How would I know?” Yamato asked lightly. “I haven’t contacted them in years. Once we settle in our field of study, we no longer have any need to stay with them if we don’t want to. If it is them, I don’t see why they would include me in their games. I’m their biggest asset, after all.”

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Hibiki waved his hands about a bit. “So… let me get this straight. You  _know_  the Nonary Game? It wasn’t fatal or, it didn’t have people getting lethal injections or anything?”

Yamato said nothing. His smile froze, then slowly faded away. He turned away from them, staring at the wall instead, and crossed his arms. “I’ve said enough. This Nonary Game is different to the one the Hotsuin family did. If you want details about it, he will have them, I’m sure.”

“Yamato,” Ronaldo was staring intently at Yamato’s back. “Tell me one thing – you wish to have me killed. You have no remorse or hesitation… why?”

“Because you are a threat. I believe I said that, didn’t I? Besides, irrationally, I still believe you to be Alcor’s murderer,” he was pulling at his sleeve now, and there was a strange weight to his shoulders. “We’ve reached the end, now, anyway. I doubt we will need you for the door…”

What?

“What are you-”

“Shouldn’t we be searching for a way out?” Yamato asked, turning away and fixing them all with a bland stare. “This room is making me claustrophobic.”

No one moved at first, but slowly they all returned to their tasks. Midori huddled close to Hibiki, speaking in a soft whisper.

“Umm… that guy really isn’t gonna kill the policeman, is he…?”

She looked worried, snatching glances over her shoulder at Yamato. Hibiki wasn’t sure what to tell her. Yamato had tried to in the last voting game, and Hibiki didn’t know if Kazuya and Keisuke’s trick would work a second time. He felt uneasiness curdle in his stomach, because there was something off putting in the way Yamato acted in general.

Ronaldo’s words rattled in his head. Was Yamato Zero? He admitted that the Hotsuin family ran the first Nonary Game – safe or not, and he could simply be a really good liar. What was this stuff about spacetime and many worlds and accessing information from alternative timelines even about? It sounded like the crazy ramblings of someone who bought into pseudoscience, but…

Ronaldo said that Yamato was an established astrophysicist – who published theories and books on time dilation. Wait, didn’t Yamato mention about time during his ramble? Maybe time was just his thing – maybe this was a theory he was working on, or, maybe he was one of those crazy genius types. The type who thought outlandishly and came to insane yet legitimate theories?

Hibiki shook his head, and managed to muster a smile for Midori.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he won’t.”

Midori nodded, although she looked unconvinced. The rest of the puzzle passed in cold silence.

**—-**

It was Hibiki’s team that found the key card. It was a Pisces. He hung onto it, since people seemed to like him be the pack mule, as it were. Damn, he solved like 90% of those puzzles because of it… he wasn’t even that good at them.

They met up with the other team in the next assembly hall. Unlike the last two, this one had more doors. There were four doors on each side of the assembly hall, one of them the double doors that led to the Voting Room. On the large screen behind the stage were the words;  _‘Voting Game will start in forty minutes.’_

“Forty minutes…? Maybe they want us to explore?” Daichi suggested, gesturing to the eight doors.

“Maybe…” Hibiki muttered.

“Well, I’m not sitting here for forty minutes,” Kazuya said, and abruptly pivoted on his heel, strolling to one of the nearest doors. “I’m exploring. C’mon, Atsuro.”

“Gah, hey wait, Kaz!” Atsuro trotted after him like a puppy, quickly catching up to him and playfully smacking him on the shoulder. Kazuya’s laughter echoed, and they left the assembly hall in good humour. Hibiki couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it. At least some good cheer remained here.

There was a whisper of movement, and Hibiki turned to see that Yamato was walking towards a door without a word – the one next to where Atsuro and Kazuya left through. So then there were six left…

“I’ll scout this door,” Ronaldo said, pointing to the one in the far corner. “Be careful. We don’t know if Zero has placed traps along here.”

Everyone murmured their acknowledgement of the detective’s warning, and watched as he vanished into the door he had pointed to earlier. It was just the five of them now, and Midori looked between Keisuke and Hibiki.

“Umm, we should all go together! Safety in numbers, right?” Midori suggested.

“We only have forty minutes, we should probably try to search as many rooms as possible,” Keisuke said gently. “But in pairs, maybe.”

“Awww, but they’ll be in a three…” Midori half-pouted.

“It’s okay, Midori,” Hibiki said. “If we finish our doors quick enough, we might be able to go through one together.”

Midori thought about this for a moment before nodding, smiling brightly before taking Keisuke wrist and hauling him off, despite his protests. “Awright! See you later, Hibiki!”

Hibiki waved at her, and slipped his hands into his pockets as he turned to Daichi and Io. They looked tired, but otherwise were in good spirits.

“So how was it on your end?”

“It was pretty good, actually,” Daichi replied, “Did you know that Keisuke and Atsuro know each other, though? They were friends in middle school.”

“And Atsuro and Kazuya are friends from highschool,” Io added.

“Yeah, yeah, and Atsuro and Kazuya know Midori because she’s a famous camgirl on the internet,” Daichi finished. “Isn’t that kind of weird? It’s like they just snatched a group of people who knew each other to play this game… even Yamato and Ronaldo know each other, kind of…”

Hibiki thought back to Yamato’s eerie words; ‘ _I know you. The rat who keeps sniffing about places where he shouldn’t be. Talking to people he shouldn’t. Causing trouble. We know all about your prying and snooping…’_

“Y-Yeah… kinda…” Hibiki said uncomfortably. He coughed. “Er, anyway, maybe we should explore a door…?”

“Yeah, which one should we piiiick~?” Daichi hummed, turning to regard the doors. Io tilted her head to the one near the double doors.

“How about that one…?”

“Sure,” Daichi said immediately, not even thinking on it. Hibiki smothered a grin. He knew Daichi had been crushing on Io for a while, and, actually…

“You know, I think I’ll go explore a door by myself,” he said, shooting Daichi a mischievous grin. “Give you two some  _alone_  time~”

“H-Hibiki!” Daichi half-hissed, his face turning bright red. Hibiki laughed a bit, and clapped his friend on the shoulder, moving away from him before he could protest. Io looked a bit puzzled, but he was glad for that. He couldn’t have her catching onto his plan, after all.

“Have fun!” he called, trotting away from the duo and grabbing the closest door at random. It was only when he walked down the hallway a few metres that he realised he took the one Yamato had taken earlier.

He paused, unsure if he should leave or not, but decided to press on. Yamato only expressed murderous intent towards Ronaldo, after all… heh, heheh… that wasn’t comforting.

The hallway was long, and he saw no glimpse of Yamato as he walked. Eventually the hallway came across a sort of crossroads, with one door leading left, and the other leading straight on. Hibiki looked between them, trying to decide…

“Oh!”

Hibiki almost jumped when the door to the left opened up, and Kazuya was standing there with a bemused expression.

“So the hallways are joined, huh?” Kazuya said thoughtfully. Atsuro wasn’t with him, Hibiki noted, as the other teenager walked over to him. His smile was easy, and his stance purely casual. He looked like he was taking a pleasant stroll, instead of exploring their prison.

“What up?” Kazuya asked.

“Uh… nothing… looking for Yamato, I guess?” Hibiki said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He said some…odd stuff.”

“Really?” Kazuya tilted his head. “’Bout what?”

Hibiki shrugged. “Spacetime, time, alternative realities… weird stuff. I couldn’t follow it at all.”

“Yeah, well, that kind of stuff is confusing as hell,” Kazuya sighed. “Manifolds and dimensions, coordinate systems… shit…”

Hibiki stared at him. “You… know about that junk?”

“Well,” Kazuya rubbed the back of his neck, frowning deeply, “You know, you were there with us and Ronaldo. Naoya does work for scientists. Programming computers for specialised purposes. They need special computers and monitoring equipment for stuff like that, and I listen to him ramble at times. I can only get the gist of it though.”

Hibiki hummed. That made sense. “Yeah… well, Yamato seemed like he really bought into that crap. I’m… kind of worried. Is it just me, or does he seem kind of…” he made a swirling motion by his temple, and Kazuya made an unattractive snorting noise.

“Yeah, kinda,” Kazuya agreed. “Something’s definitely loose up there – knocked even looser when we found…yeah.”

Suddenly, any humour drained out of Kazuya’s face, and he looked down at their feet. He seemed unusually affected by some random death of a stranger – not to say that it wasn’t horrifying, even Hibiki got cold flushes at remembering the man lying prone on his desk. But… Kazuya seemed genuinely upset and… even pained. Did he know him? But, wait, wouldn’t that mean he would know Yamato as well? Nothing in their interactions so far spoke of them knowing each other…

“I think we should probably keep an eye on him,” Kazuya said after a heavy pause. “He’s kinda kooky, and I don’t want to have him go all ‘The Shining’ on our asses.”

Yamato with an axe, that chilling smile on his lips – Hibiki felt faint at the thought. Yeah. No reenactions of that, please.

“I don’t think they’d have axes lying around, hopefully,” Hibiki paused. “I’m not sure, actually. It’s like they’re designing everything to get us all to kill each other.”

“Aw, don’t like the element of danger?” Kazuya joked, lightly jabbing Hibiki in the ribs. “Kind of thrilling, isn’t it? Lethal bracelets, killer puzzles, ticking time bombs in the form of scrawny teenagers…”

Hibiki smiled weakly. He didn’t have Kazuya’s morbid sense of humour. “Hah, yeah, right…”

“Well, anyway, I gotta go back. I left Atsuro to inspect the bathrooms,” Kazuya said, turning away and strolling back through the doors. “Good luck with the resident psycho!”

“Yeah…”

The door closed, and it was just Hibiki. He suddenly felt a bit uncertain about seeing Yamato now. It was obvious where he was – behind the door before him. Kazuya may have been joking with those axe and psycho comments, but he remembered those still, eerie expressions Yamato pulled, the way he so easily said he would kill Ronaldo…

Hibiki took an unconscious step away and strode off as swiftly as possible. Maybe he could catch up with Io and Daichi if he walked fast enough. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and the sudden surge of animal like fear that rose up in him confused and frightened him.

He felt like there was a great stirring in the air, one that his cowardly fleeing just caused. No, Kazuya just freaked him out, that was it.

That’s all. 


	5. Interlude

The words were stark and bold, even if the metal plate was rusted from age. Yamato stared at it intently, even as the other children ran on ahead, crying out with relief and pure joy. The number nine door lay ahead, inside the room, but Yamato hesitated.

 

**_INCINERATOR_ **

 

Incinerator. The door lay before them, well within their grasp, but that one word stopped Yamato cold. Everyone was congratulating themselves, just beyond the threshold, cheering in happiness. The air smelt of ash, and was uncomfortably warm. They were crying in relief. The floor was covered in scorch marks.

 

Incinerator.

 

“Don’t look like we have a choice,” someone said beside Yamato. It was the dark haired boy, the one with the cutting tongue and an attitude like a feral cat. He was frowning up at the word as well, chewing on his fingernails. The boy was right, of course. They didn’t have a choice.

 

They shuffled in over the threshold, into the hot room. Everyone was beginning to calm down now, and near the door was their de facto leader. He was the eldest out of all the gathered children, with curly white hair, and long eyelashes, a peaceful, tranquil expression on his face. Where everyone had been chaotic with panic and fear, he had been the one to gently guide them through this horrible game, with all of them together and whole.

 

“There is no limit on this door. More than five people can walk through it,” the eldest boy said, gesturing to the scanner beside the door. Above it was one word; ‘Unlimited Use’. Everyone buzzed with anticipation, and the next moments were brimming with barely contained excitement. Everyone scanned their bracelets – Yamato and the dark haired boy included.

 

Everyone stepped back, gathered into a semi-circle before the door. Everyone held their breath. Everyone waited.

 

But the door didn’t open.

 

At first there was minor confusion – did they do it right? Had they gotten the digital root wrong? No, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine all equalled nine. The math was sound. Then why?

 

After 90 seconds it was revealed why.

 

With a deep, rumbling groan, the open doors that led out of the incinerator slammed shut. The room, darkened by the light source cut out, flashed with yellow and orange lights as the klaxon alarms shrilled to life. Happiness and relief soured into terror and confusion, everyone shouted and cried out in fear. What was happening? They completed the game they got to the number nine door everyone scanned it why why-

 

**_“Automatic incineration will begin in 18 minutes.”_ **

 

Panic broke out immediately. Yamato stood there in numb shock. He was in a state of surprise and not-surprise. He expected this, kinda. Walking into an incinerator. Why would they have the escape in an incinerator? They never really intended them to escape, did they. No, it made sense.

 

Some of the children started pounding at the doors, screaming to be let out. Screaming not to die. The cold voice above them continued to count down the minutes. They practically flew by, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10…

 

The dark haired boy was frozen in front of him, staring at him with too wide blue eyes. Yamato merely stared back at him. The eldest boy he couldn’t see, not past the flashing lights and milling chaos of panicking children. Maybe he was one of them. Maybe he was standing before the door just as calm as before. Maybe. Maybe.

 

“Well,” Yamato said. His mouth was moving against his will, and he heard himself laugh. His head was buzzing though. There was a loud shrieking buzz filling his ears, filling his skull, until he felt like everything was going to vibrate out of him. He was terrified. He felt sick with terror. He was going to throw up. He was going to start screaming. He could feel it rising up his throat and filling his mouth. “We’re fucked.”

 

The dark hard boy immediately shouted, but Yamato couldn’t hear him past the buzzing. Someone will come for them? No, no, no, no – Yamato’s mind was stuck on that. No, no, no, no.

 

“No one’s coming,” he muttered, and he crouched down. His legs felt weak. So he crouched. The cold voice above them spoke, and the screams around him reached a new pitch of fear. It made sense. They had been kidnapped. They had been made to perform this game. Why did any of them think they would escape alive? They completed the game, so their use was no longer required. It would be easier to simply burn them all alive, instead of dealing with the nasty ramifications of kidnapping children. Cheaper too.

 

“We’re going to die,” Yamato said, and he could hear the dark haired boy crying loudly. Somehow. Even though everyone was screaming, he could hear his heaving sobs cutting through the noise. He repeated the words; “We’re going to die we’re going to die we’re going to die we’re going to die,” over and over again because it drowned it out. It drowned everything out.

 

_We’re going to die we’re going to die I’m going to die I’m going to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to-_

 

**_“Incineration has begun.”_ **

 

The air became hotter. He could practically see the heat wobble off of the floor. The dryness made the air burn in his lungs. There was a grinding noise. A groan. The entire room felt like it was shuddering. The groaning of machinery. The incinerator was starting. They were going to burn. They were going to burn. They were going to burn.

 

_I’m going to die._

 

Yamato felt a hand on his head. Fingers curling into his hair. He looked up. The heat was almost burning his face. There was a loud shrieking of metal ringing out. The entire room was roaring and screaming. The eldest boy was standing beside him, and there was a gentle smile on his face. Even with impending death he was calm.

 

He was like a benevolent God.

 

And his hand were on both Yamato’s and the dark haired boy’s head.

 

He said;

 

“Everything will be alright.”

 

_I’m… not going to die…_

 

Then everything stopped. 


	6. Chapter 6

They all met up in the assembly hall after fifteen minutes, leaving them twenty five minutes to spare, and discussed what they found behind the doors. Well, most of them. Some of their party were missing, such as Yamato and Atsuro, but they weren’t too worried about it. They presumed they were both running late.

 

What they found behind the doors seemed to be a living area of some sort. There were dorms, bathrooms, shower rooms, kitchens, and even a lounge. There was no running water or food – of course – but it was a bit strange that they would have all of these rooms open for them to roam. This building had been perfectly linear before. Did they want them to do something?

 

By then there was only fifteen minutes until the Voting Game would start. There was still no sign of Atsuro or Yamato.

 

“Geeze, what’s taking him?” Kazuya asked grumpily, tapping his foot with a small scowl. “Did he get lost, or something?”

 

It was sort of odd. Apparently Kazuya left Atsuro behind to poke about the bathroom – mostly at his his insistence. Kazuya had gone to explore the next door over, where he ran into Hibiki, and when he returned, Atsuro was gone. He had presumed that he had gone on to explore the next few rooms but… something wasn’t settling right with Hibiki at that explanation, and judging by the worry creeping into Kazuya’s expression, he felt it too.

 

“Maybe we should go look for them?” Io suggested quietly. “We do need everyone for the next… um, game…”

 

Everyone shifted uncomfortably. The next game… they were all nervous about it, if only because they weren’t sure what Yamato was going to do in it. The man was a loose cannon as far as they were concerned, and had no idea how to react should he succeed in killing Ronaldo. Hibiki sighed.

 

“Yeah, let’s go look for ‘em. Maybe they’re on their way back now?”

 

With quiet murmurs everyone split up – there were no pairs this time, since there were only seven of them, and seven available doors to go through. Hibiki picked the door he saw Yamato go through only half an hour ago, jogging down it. He reached the intersection where he had met Kazuya earlier. Two doors. One led to where Kazuya and Atsuro had been searching. The other led to wherever Yamato disappeared to.

 

Hibiki doubted Yamato was still lurking in there, but it probably didn’t hurt to look, right? With a small nod he walked forwards, cracking open the door and peeking inside. It looked to be a type of storeroom. There were blankets, linen, cleaning chemicals, a sink, mops, crowbars and – was that chainsaw? Hibiki stared at it in bemusement, slipping inside the room to take a closer look.

 

Yes, lined up on the wall were crowbars, hammer, garden shears, and a chainsaw – although there was an odd space between the hammer and garden shears, like something was missing. There was even a faint, pale outline against the storeroom wall, which was otherwise darkened with dust or age. Hibiki suddenly felt… wary. He rubbed at his mouth, turning away to look at the rest of the room. It was quite small, very cramped. Had… had Yamato just been standing in here earlier? What had he been doing?

 

Hibiki suddenly felt guilty in running away before, and he exited the storeroom quickly. The air had been stuffy and thick with chemicals. He tugged at the collar of his sweater, and frowned in concentration. Where could he have gone then…? Hibiki wasn’t sure how much time they had left, but it was probably about twenty minutes at least…

 

He looked at the door beside him that led into the next hallway. Well, if Yamato left the storeroom, he didn’t come back to the assembly hall, so he probably left through… here…

 

Hibiki walked through it, and the hallway was entirely different. The floor was polished wood, and it carried a warm, homely air to it. There were rows of heavy looking, wooden doors lining the hallway, with an open doorway at the very end, leading into some kind of kitchen area. So… a dorm? They must’ve peaked into only a few doors, instead of all of them, if Kazuya came back after only fifteen minutes. This looked like it could take more than an hour to search thoroughly.

 

Maybe Atsuro or Yamato were in one of those rooms?

 

Hibiki grabbed the closest door, and tried it. It opened with a bit of heaving, squeaking like the door to a crypt. Hibiki shuddered at the thought, and peeked inside. The room was plain and simple – yet very dark. He could only out a bed, a dresser and a chair… but nothing else. Even the windows had heavy metal plates bolted to it. That was depressing. Explained why it was so dark though.

 

He walked inside, the door closing behind him, and stood in the centre of the room. The door looked thick, and the walls even thicker. Was it soundproof? Why soundproof a dorm room, anyway? Well, he supposed students probably blasted music in the early hours in the morning… it was probably better than thin, weak walls.

 

Hibiki moved to the wall, rapping his knuckles on it experimentally. It thudded oddly, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

 

…what was he doing? He was looking for Atsuro and Yamato, not playing with the walls.

 

He turned and quickly left, letting the heavy door swing shut behind him. Right. Atsuro and Yamato. Time to quickly check all of these rooms! He probably had time to! He exploded into a flurry of motion, jogging across the hallway to wrench open the next door, and walked inside a few steps to make sure (it was really dark, after all). Nope. Nothing.

 

He repeated this a few times, steadily getting closer to the door leading out into the assembly hall. Hibiki was beginning to think that none of them were here after all when the fifth door… he opened the fifth door. The room was just as dark as the rest. Hibiki stepped inside – the floors of the dorm room were carpet, unlike the hallway, and Hibiki heard it squish oddly beneath his shoes. There was also an… _overpowering_ smell pervading the entire room, heavy and sticking to the back of his throat. He backed out almost immediately of that room, suddenly frightened.

 

After what felt like an eternity, Hibiki stepped back into the room, his knees shaking. Squish. Squish. Squish. The carpet sounded wet and spongy. The smell grew stronger with each step – until his foot hit something. He almost tripped over it, letting out a panicked noise, and stood stock still instead, staring at the metal plate bolted over the window.

 

He knew what it was. He knew what it was. But at the same time he didn’t. His mind refused to even consider it as truth. He wanted to gag. The smell was awful. But, he crouched down slowly. His body was shaking. His entire body was shaking violently. He pressed his hand down on the thing on the floor. Something wet and warm clung to his palm like oil, and he could hear his breathing loud and short in his ears.

 

Shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. This was a body. This was a dead body.

 

It was warm. The blood was warm and sticky. It hadn’t coagulated yet, a part of Hibiki’s mind noted. Calmly. He didn’t know what that meant though. Blood wasn’t coagulated. Blood was warm. The body was warm. What did that mean? He died recently. Very recently. Very very very recently.

 

Hibiki had been in that hallway for a while. Kazuya had been in there for a while prior to that. He-

 

The door closed behind him. Very decisively. He heard it click. Hibiki didn’t move. Just his breathing loud in his ears. Hand still pressed against the the the the the _corpse_ it was a corpse shit he was touching a dead body shit fuck shit fuck shit-

 

“… _s-shit_ …” Hibiki wheezed. He couldn’t see who the body belonged to. The fabric was wet, and just a dark, greyish smear in the darkness. His vision was blurred. _Squish_. Someone was walking over the carpet. Oh shit.

 

He wanted to scream, but it was caught in his throat. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t do anything. His mind had snapped into a state of frozen terror, like a rabbit before the incoming wheels of a truck. There was a long pause. It felt like eternity. He was breathing. He was still sitting before the corpse. He was still breathing. Maybe. May-

 

There was a noise like whistle – a split second. But then blinding agony buried itself deep into his spine. He was screaming before his frantic mind even caught up – no, no, overcome. He writhed and thrashed, animal urge of self-preservation kicking into overdrive. The pain was overwhelming he wasn’t sure what was hurting and what wasn’t – only that it was agony, it was agony – then he felt the agony shift, wriggle and – wet noise. A wet, squelching noise, and something being _wrenched_ out and

 

God he could feel blood he was bleeding everything hurt and he couldn’t feel his arm he couldn’t feel his arm he had to escape how – all he could see was the darkness before him but he tumbled and crawled forwards. Over the corpse and crawling on his hand and knees with a mindless sort of terror. He couldn’t feel his arm but he could feel hot liquid running down his back, every nerve screaming in agony.

 

 _Squish. Squish_. The footsteps followed.

 

Hibiki hit the wall and he scrabbled against it with his good arm, breathing sharp, shallow gasps. Through his blurred vision, he could only see a tall, indistinct figure walking calmly towards him, something long and thin in its grasp. An axe? An axe? Was that an axe-?

 

_‘He’s kinda kooky, and I don’t want him to go all ‘The Shining’ on our asses.’_

 

“O-Oh my god, oh my god,” Hibiki was whimpering, and he weakly pressed his back against the wall, sliding across it. He could feel it drag over the agony in his back, and everything fuzzed out and grey – but adrenaline was roaring through him. The door. He had- the door. If he got out the door. He could run. He could live. He could.

 

His head felt light. Lighter than air. He could barely breathe.

 

The whistle noise sounded out and Hibiki threw up his arm to shield his head. He felt it. It bit right into his forearm and hit bone. He screamed. He screamed and screamed and screamed and he didn’t know he was writhing on the floor until the next bite of pain slammed into his bicep. The attacks were wild, unaimed, just, lashing down on him, striking at whatever was exposed.

 

Bicep, shoulder, forearm then – the axe buried deep into his side, feeling it jar between his ribs and HIbiki he – couldn’t. He couldn’t. A weak spasm and whimper, but nothing else. He couldn’t. All he could feel was pain. He couldn’t breathe. Hibiki’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, his breathing wheezing in his throat. The axe was cold. Burning cold. He felt it knock and yank between his ribs. It had gotten stuck. Hibiki could only rock with the movements before it was wrenched out with a sick squelching noise.

 

He lay there. The pain had reached a kind of numbness. He was light. Floating, almost. He could hear his breathing. He could hear animal like noises of pain. He couldn’t see anything though. Deathly silent. No. Someone was talking from far away. Voice was distorted. Couldn’t. Light. Floaty. Hibiki felt his body spasm from shock.

 

Squish. Squish. Squish.

 

Away.

 

Hibiki’s breathing rasped in his throat. Everything was numb. Then light spilled out. Bright. White. So bright. He could see bright light. Rectangular- doorway. Doorway was open.

 

His mind was scrabbling. It felt like a massive sinkhole was sucking him down into colder, colder depths. He tried – something, told him, to… try. Focus. Try. Focus. He focused. The corpse in the middle of the room. He. He. Focused. He. Foc-

 

White…?

 

He saw… white… that…

 

No…it couldn’t…

 

…

 

Hibiki was floating in a dark void, his mind filled with nothingness.

 

**BAD END**


End file.
